


All I Wanted To Do Was Help People

by WeTheFreeloaders



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Aged-up Chara, Aged-up Frisk, Angst, Complicated Relationships, Eventual Comfort, Gender-Neutral Chara, Gender-Neutral Frisk, Guilt, Lack of Communication, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, References to Depression, Self-Hatred
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-03
Updated: 2017-10-14
Packaged: 2019-01-08 12:04:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12254040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WeTheFreeloaders/pseuds/WeTheFreeloaders
Summary: Several years after multiple runs of Undertale, Frisk and Chara are free from the control of the Anomaly. Despite that, their relationship is rocky at best, but unfortunately, when you're both stuck by the SOUL, you can't just leave the other behind. As a result, both are forced to endure several misadventures together, and along the way, hopefully learn more about one another.(Couple notes: both Frisk and Chara are somewhere in their mid-late teens, and neither are fully wholesome people, though they both also don't lean towards outright evil even at their worst. The story is written chapter-to-chapter, so expect a loose narrative at best with not much coherency, at least at the start.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is bad.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frisk can't sleep, and so to distract them, Chara offers up a late-night conversation that goes horrible off the rails.

Toss. 

Turn. 

Toss.

Turn. 

Toss. Turn. Toss. Turn. 

Tossturntossturntossturntossturn... 

"Another sleepless night?" a voice asks, and you narrow your eyes, well aware they know how grating it is. 

Chara is the kind of person to decide something that bothers you and not them is a moral victory, and you despise it to no end how rarely they're wrong about what gets your goat.

"I'm just getting comfortable." you blatantly lie, and they burst out laughing at your pathetic attempt to get them to leave you alone. You're a pretty good liar, at least for someone your age, but they're very good at observing even minor details within split seconds.

They're also stuck in your head, and privy to your thoughts unless you consciously block them out, which usually requires more focus than it's worth. Especially at two in the morning.

"Frisk, Frisk, Frisk." they tsk, and you huff, throwing the blankets off yourself as you climb out of bed. "I thought they taught naughty children such as yourself not to lie?"

"I thought they taught naughty children such as yourself to respect my privacy."

They snorted, and you could see a faint silhouette in the shadows stalking you. A few years ago they began doing that rather than using their transparent, incorporeal form, mostly because they loved how it terrified you in the night, though at this point they must've been doing it because it looked cool. Because it sure didn't scare you anymore.

Not at all.

"Pretending to be brave, are we?" Chara asks as you stepped into the bathroom, turning on the sink to splash some water on your face.

"What did I say about listening to my thoughts?" you asked in turn, wiping your face off with a towel.

"I'm certain I've done far worse things that you've also demanded I not do, why exactly would that strategy work with lying, of all things?"

"Did I forget to say please?"

"Ah, Frisk, ever the sarcastic little troublemaker."

You rolled your eyes, leaning on the sink to glare into the mirror. "What do you want?"

Your reflection trembled and shook, vibrating as it seemingly rearranged yourself, until your own counterpart was looking right back at you. "I can't have a simple conversation with my favourite human?"

"Usually you're either insulting me or demanding something of me, and you at least wait until I wake up to start making fun of every little thing I do. So that only leaves one option."

"Hey, I didn't wake you up." Chara says defensively, raising their arms up. "You just couldn't sleep."

"Yeah, but I can tell when you're wanting to try and get me to do something."

"How so?"

"You have that weird grin."

They looked down, cross-eyed, before looking back up to you. "But I'm always smiling, Frisk?"

"It's creepy as hell that you don't ever stop, for the record." you tell them, before leaning in, furrowing your brow. "But you never make it look all jagged and predatory unless I have something you want."

Chara's eyes shoot left and right, before settling back on you, looking slightly wide. "I see your vocabulary's improving. Seems I'm finally rubbing off on you."

"Cut the crap and just tell me. You already know the answer."

The figure in the mirror holds themself firm and upright for several seconds, until they let out a deep sigh. "I'm bored, Frisk."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes." they reaffirm, hopping up on the mirror-sink, sitting on it like a chair. "You'd be surprised to find that several years trapped in someone else's head leaves you with little to do."

"Sounds like a real travesty." you murmur, stepping away from the sink slightly.

"I sense sarcasm."

"I mean, I know it sucks and all, but I still have little sympathy."

Their eyes narrow, though Chara's almost always smile remains. "Why, all-loving, all-caring Frisk, can't spare me a few scraps of empathy?"

You sigh, rubbing your temples. You hated that reputation, so much. People didn't know how painful it was to make everything go well without risking a single life, and the honest to God truth was you probably wouldn't repeat it unless absolutely necessary (and even then, only because you already knew what to do). 

Everyone always expected you to 'do the right thing', even if it meant bending over backwards for someone whose very existence you despised.

"I'm still here, you know." Chara called, and your head shot up, looking in the mirror. "I'm going to take that as a no?"

"I'd love to, but I'm still pretty pissed about what you did."

Chara let out a deep, growling sigh, rolling their eyes as they rolled their head back. "Oh, give me a break, Frisk."

"You killed them all!" you hissed, trying as hard as you could not to wake Toriel up. "You don't just brush that under the rug!"

"Funny, because as far as everyone but us is concerned, we did just that. Even I only ever think about it because you bring it up."

"That's because you're a sociopath!"

"Whatever you say, it was necessary."

"I doubt that." you seethe.

"You know the Anomaly wouldn't leave us alone unless your SOUL was out of its reach. You weren't going to do anything about it, so I did." they huff, narrowing their eyes at you. "I did it for you, and everyone else, as much as I did me."

You could feel yourself start crying, but you brushed the tears off your face, sucking in a deep breath. "You still... you still killed all our friends, after I worked as hard as I could to make everything alright."

"You act like I enjoyed it." Chara said, and you could detect a small hint of frustration in their voice. "As if murdering my surrogate family was a pleasant experience. How ignorant of you."

"For someone who supposedly regrets it, you sure don't act like it."

Pinching the bridge of their nose, Chara looks up at you, face pulled into one of slight anger. "I'm telling you, I absolutely did not enjoy any of what happened, but I'm over it."

"Did I forget to mention the part where it's because you're a sociopath?" you tell them, as snidely as possible. "You don't just kill an entire population and 'get over it'."

"That's because I look at the here and now, you idiot!" they growl. "Look, we have our SOUL, the monsters are freed, and everyone you know and love and care about is safe, while the bad guys like me and Asriel are locked away forever and ever from good people like you, good people who killed just like I did."

"That was an accident!" you cry, well aware your voice is beginning to get too loud for Toriel to not hear you. "I didn't mean to!"

"I'm sure you didn't, but I didn't mean to get me and my loving, adoring brother murdered by angry, vengeful humans. But here we are." Chara says. "And absolutely everyone still holds that to me, but what, your faults get brushed under the rug? Why? Because you're the 'hero'?"

You stand there, red in the face and pouting like a child, too angry to walk away and admit defeat, but still too defeated to give a reply.

"Besides, you made up for all those little incidents where you slaughtered my mother right before my eyes by saving her and the rest of her race. I know killing them all isn't exactly a noble thing, but I only did it so our SOUL would be ours once and for good, so that when you got the best possible outcome a second time, we wouldn't lose it." they tell you, letting out a deep exhale, clutching their fists. "All I wanted to do was help people, Frisk. I won't pretend what I did was right, but I did it for the right reasons. Whether you believe that or not doesn't matter to me, because everyone and everything I care about is safe and sound."

The door creaks open, and in a flash your reflection returns to being, well, yours. You stumble back against the wall, feeling like you just got punched in the gut, and turned your eyes to Toriel. She was giving you a rather stern look as she entered the bathroom, one hand on her hip.

"My child, don't you believe it's a tad too late to be - oof!" she grunts, caught off guard by your hug, burying your face into the crook of her neck. "My goodness, is something bothering you?"

"Nothing." you tell her, ignoring the wetness running down your cheek, staining her fur. "Absolutely nothing."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chara and Frisk have their civil-if-not-nice partnership elaborated on, and both realize their pragmatic relationship can't upgrade towards personal friendship when there's still some underlying animosity.

The alarm beeped, over and over, droning on with its sound pounding into your skull, a grim reminder of the fact you were awake before it went off. Why was it grim? Because you still had yet to fall asleep, of course.

Insomnia was a pain. It worked out for Chara, but that's because dead people probably didn't have to worry about sleeping, period.

"Because we're constantly sleeping." they provided, and you scowled, pushing yourself out of bed.

"Clearly. People who sleep actually be quiet."

"Testy as usual, Frisk." they said, giving you an painfully forced happy sigh, and you could almost feel them shaking their head. "Never change."

You yanked your sweater over your head, rolling your eyes as you left your room. "Believe me, for you, I won't."

They laughed, doing the ghost equivalent of scampering off as you entered the kitchen, thankfully polite enough to not make you look insane in front of your adoptive mother by making you talk to the voice in your head.

"Good morning." Toriel said cheerfully, turning to give you a wide smile. "I take it you're well rested, after last night?"

"Sure thing, Mom." you nodded, lying through your teeth. Thankfully, she bought it, her smile growing even wider.

"Wonderful." she said cheerfully, placing a plate in front of you. You weren't particularly hungry, but, judging by the amount of food on it, Toriel decided for you that you were. 

You gave her a thankful smile before grabbing a fork, poking a slice of bacon before resigning yourself to breakfast. You figured you could eat at least something before school.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready for school too?" you asked her after a small pause, looking to her with confusion.

"Of course." Toriel nodded, wiping off a small bowl with a rag. "On any other day I would, but I was concerned about your well-being after last night, and so I had another faculty member open the school. I'll be leaving the house shortly, seeing as I don't want to miss the rest of the day."

You nodded, giving a 'mhm' of acknowledgement, now feeling pretty terrible and guilty over having made her do this, especially since you already made your mind up and decided not to tell her what was bothering you.

"So, Frisk," you heard her start, walking over to the chair closest to yours, taking a seat before looking at you, clearly concerned. "Was there something bothering you last night?"

"Nope." you again lied, and this time it was obvious you were, seeing as her brow furrowed immediately. Well, that or she was doing that mom thing people like doing, and just automatically assumed you were lying.

Granted, she wasn't wrong to assume that this time, but still.

"Are you positive? You were crying after all, I don't believe myself wrong in worrying about my child sobbing in the bathroom early in the morning."

"I wasn't sobbing!" you cried, mouth gaping as Chara snickered in the back of your head. "I was hardly even crying, it was just a couple tears. It was nothing."

"I'm certain people, human or monster, do not cry over nothing, Frisk."

You bit your lower lip, wanting to shrink under her hardening stare. Oh boy...

"I'll... tell you after school." you said, glancing at the clock on the wall across the kitchen. "Oh look, I gotta get moving!"

"Hmm?" Toriel murmurs, turning around to look before snapping her head back towards your now empty chair. "Ah! Frisk, you still have several minutes to finish eating! Don't you want a ride?!"

"No thanks, and I'll finish it after school!" you call, grabbing your bag before charging out the door, wanting nothing more than to just get out of that situation before you got any more heated under the collar. "It was delicious, thanks Mom! Love you!"

"Gah, you - Love you too!" you hear her yell at the door as you slam it shut behind you, letting out a hefty sigh as the disembodied voice in your skull burst into a fit of laughter.

You scrunch your face up, feeling yourself blush slightly as you turn away from the door, taking a step onto the sidewalk. "Oh, give me a break. What should I have done?"

"Dunno. Not breaking into a run and slamming the door as loud as humanly possible may have been a good start."

"Okay, okay, I messed up there."

Chara clicked their tongue, and a few feet away you could see their silhouette under a tree's heavy shadow, waving mockingly at you. "You also messed up a third time, though, chronologically speaking, it was the first-"

"Get on with it." you grumble, walking past their shadow.

"Well, you now have to come up with a reason for why you were crying in the bathroom at two in the morning, unless you wanted to rat my existence out."

"You know what?" you ask, feeling your frustration boil. "Maybe I will."

You were lying, of course, and Chara knew you were lying, of course, but ultimately they relented, instead changing the subject rather abruptly. "So, what are we doing at school today?"

"Same thing we do everyday."

"You mean, you don't pay attention, and I wind up doing all the work for you?"

"You don't do all the work." you tell them.

"Yeah, that's because I don't control the body. You have to do the extraordinary effort of writing down the answers I feed you."

"Forgive me for not being as smart as you, mighty school wizard."

"I find it very concerning the only time you consider me useful is when I'm doing something for you."

The conversation ends there, mostly because you can't be bothered to continue it. You doubt their remark was a genuine jab at you and your unwillingness to give them even partial control of your body ("It wasn't."), but you still took it the wrong way and felt bad ("Probably for yourself more so than me.").

As you walked, your ghostly friend finally fell silent, probably because you were no longer providing things to make conversation easy. You kept going, scuffing your feet along the ground, until eventually you came to a stop, your eyes drifting off to the side where they rested on Mt. Ebott. 

"There's nothing left for you there." Chara said, sounding almost too hasty. "Everyone left. Just keep going."

You clicked your tongue, shaking your head. "Someone's still there, Chara."

They let out a heavy, frustrated sigh. "I know. But what are we gonna do about them, exactly?"

"..."

You turned away and kept walking, and you could feel your other's grim satisfaction when they realized you finally dropped it. You knew they wanted to see him too, but, well, what exactly was the point? You knew Flowey didn't want any help, he didn't know of Chara's existence, let alone the odd circumstances around it, and overall there really wasn't much there anyway.

Once again, Chara was right, and once again, it pissed you off to no end.

"You act like I enjoy being right all the time." they huffed.

"You don't?"

"No. I was right about the Anomaly leaving us alone if I did what I did." Chara told you, and it sounded as close to a disembodied voice could get to gritting their teeth. "And look at how happy both of us are about that."

"We're not arguing about this again."

"Fine, then."

The rest of the walk to school was silent, and there wasn't anyone of particular interest as you entered the building. Still, you waved and gave everyone a nice, big, toothy grin, because that's what was expected of you.

"Yo, Frisk!" you heard someone call, and you turned. Monster Kid, or M.K. as they ("And everyone else that values simplicity.") preferred, came running down the hall, barely able to stop themselves before they crashed into you. "What's up, dude?"

You shrugged, yawning slightly. "Nothing much. Just getting ready for math."

"Bummer." they frowned, cocking their head, as if inspecting you. "Another sleepless night?"

"Mhm." 

"Insomnia sounds rough."

"It is, but what else can you do?"

"Dunno dude, you could come longboarding with me and the gang."

You snorted. "And stay out until eleven at night, getting cuts and scabs? No thanks."

M.K. laughed, and you laughed along with them, until they spotted a rabbit girl down the hall. "I'll catch you later dude!" they exclaimed, taking off running before stopping, turning to face you. "Actually, wait, I don't wanna leave you hanging."

"Nah, it's fine." you told them. Even if you could stand them more easily than a handful of people, you still felt like being alone right now. "I'll catch up with you guys during lunch, sound good?"

"Sounds cool!" they nodded, turning around and taking off as fast as they could.

You shook your head, chuckling to yourself as you grabbed a book out of your locker. You were glad they finally were able to run around without constantly falling over.

"Now if only they could speak in proper English."

"Yeah, how dare they be a teenager."

"We're teenagers, we speak fairly coherently."

"Well, you're dead, for one."

"What's your excuse?" Chara asked as you closed your locker and rolled your eyes.

"I have a dead person in my head."

There was a long pause. "What does being dead have to do with anything, exactly?"

You opened your mouth, then shut it, realizing you didn't actually know. You just figured because they were dead they had a lot of time to learn things, and then you remembered they weren't able to move around or do much anyway.

"Ever the intellectual, Frisk." they snorted, and you felt some sort of intangible shove that pushed you towards your math class. "Now get to class, you dingus."

You honestly hated math class, and all it took was fifteen minutes to remember why: you couldn't understand what the teacher was saying.

Come to think of it, the way they stared at the book, the deer up at the front didn't know what she was talking about either. 

"So, then... you carry the four... and, uh, then you... okay, I think you times it by... no, wait..."

"Twenty-three." you heard, jumping in your seat.

"What?"

Chara huffed, giving you a small, ghostly slap on the back of the head. "The answer is twenty-three."

"Oh."

You grabbed your pencil, scribbling it down as the teacher continued to stumble her way through the very first question she had on the board. "Give me a few seconds and I'll give you the answer to the next one."

"Alright."

You looked out the window, looking at the trees. The breeze was making them loll side to side, lazily blowing in the wind as a handful of leaves flew this way and that. You were surprised that humans and monsters managed to get along this well.

Granted, there were a few anti-monster groups here and there, and things were still fairly complicated on a political scale, but you figured the latter was to be expected when an entirely new race just suddenly cropped back up on the surface. 

The former was also to be expected, because people were bastards, but oh well. Not all of them were bastards enough to push monsters away, judging by the fact they already had high end jobs as scientists, and teachers, and hell, even politicians, and-

"Sixty."

"Huh? Oh! Right."

"Jeez, could you be any worse a student? You can't even cheat right!" Chara chided you, giggling to themselves as you stuck your tongue out.

"I was thinking!"

"I know. I always know what you're thinking about."

"Hey, I can block it out."

"Sure didn't block it out this time." they said. "People are bastards, but that doesn't give you reason to flunk this class."

"I'm as far from flunking this class as you can be."

"How's that homeworking coming along?"

"I'm working on it, alright?"

"Gotta work on the classwork before the homework, right? Hundred ninety."

"Ugh." you groaned, this time verbally, and so you tried to ignore all the stares as you scribbled down the answer.

"Are you still thinking about the stupid mountain?" Chara asked suddenly.

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"You'd know if I was, wouldn't you?"

"..." they paused. "I guess that's fair."

You nodded, and sat up straight, continuing the 'partnership' of them giving you the answer and you writing it down, until you wound up handing it in as the teacher as still struggling to explain it.

You ignored all the dirty looks you got when the bell finally rung, having finished it completely while everyone else was stuck with it as homework.

"What a wonderful school system they've got." Chara commented, and you snorted.

"Yeah, no kidding."

"If you actually bothered to let me look at your homework, I'd be willing to help you with it too."

You stopped at your locker, tossing your math textbook in before grabbing your gym clothes. "Okay, quick pause."

"What's wrong?"

"Why're you being so nice?"

Chara sighed. "Are we honestly doing this again?"

"Well, yeah. I told you last night, you're only ever this nice if you want something from me."

"Maybe I just want to make up for being such a jerk last night?"

"The Chara I know doesn't make things up, not so suddenly, at least."

"Would you prefer I just keep yelling at you then, making you cry, and getting absolutely nowhere?"

You pursed your lips, turning to walk to gym class. "Whatever it is you want, I'm still not giving it to you."

"Oh, quit being such a sourpuss and just get your ass to gym. At least let me try."

You sucked in a deep breath, exhaling before grumbling to yourself. "Fine. Don't push your luck though."

"Yeah, offering to help you out with your homework, the deadliest of boundaries to push."

"Stuff a sock in it."

Gym class, you found, was particularly fun, mostly because a certain hot-blooded fish was the primary teacher, and another, similarly hot-blooded (if barely more grounded) skeleton was her assistant.

"Alright!" Undyne called, clapping her hands together, making a couple other kids clamp their hands over their ears. "Today we're gonna be playing dodgeball, got it?!"

"AH YES, DODGEBALL. ONE OF THE HUMANS' MOST INTENSE SPORTS, CENTERED ENTIRELY AROUND A COMBINATION OF BRUTE FORCE AND AGILITY, WITH A PINCH OF TACTICAL THINKING AND TEAMWORK." Papyrus exclaimed, clenching his fists together. "I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AND MY ASSISTANT, THE MIGHTY UNDYNE, WILL NOW GIVE A DEMONSTRATION OF THIS WONDERFUL ACTIVITY."

Undyne stared in confusion as Papyrus scooped up a basketball, nevertheless following after him as he walked to the center of the gym. "Wait, I thought you were the human-monster ambassador? Shouldn't you be over there doing political stuff or something?"

"WELL, I ATTEMPTED TO BE THE AMBASSADOR AFTER FRISK WAS REJECTED FOR BEING A CHILD, WHICH THE HUMANS PROCLAIMED AS 'ILLEGAL' FOR ONE REASON OR ANOTHER, BUT THEN SANS WOUND UP DOING THE MAJORITY OF THE PAPERWORK FOR ME, SO NOW WE SPLIT THE RESPONSIBILITY THROUGH A QUARTER FLIP. AS A RESULT, SANS IS CURRENTLY ON AMBASSADOR DUTY."

"Isn't that also illegal, though-?!"

"THINK FAST!!" Papyrus hollered, throwing the basketball with such force it lightly tapped Undyne on the chest then fell down with a resounding, dull thud.

"..."

"..."

"AND THAT, CHILDREN, IS HOW YOU PLAY DODGEBALL! NYEH HEH HEH!"

Papyrus stood there in some sort of hero pose, while Undyne stared blankly, looking back and forth between him and the basketball.

And as a result, gym class was primarily you and everyone else sitting there, looking in shock and awe as half the gym was annihilate in the ensuring 'dodgeball' game between the two.

"Well, that was a waste." Chara commented as you walked out of the gym, stretching your limbs out.

"Was fun to watch though."

"Yeah, I guess. Undyne's actually kinda cool."

"Does the disembodied voice in my head have a crush?" you teased, biting down on your tongue.

"Please. If 'cool' was an indicator of romance, you'd be the biggest polygamist in the world."

You snorted, laughing quietly. "Oh, shut up."

The day and all its other boring, wonderful events carried on, plodding until finally lunch came, giving you a small break from the monotony of it all. You grabbed your lunch bag and went outside, getting caught off guard by M.K. and his bunny friend, Snowball.

"Yo, Frisk!" M.K. grinned, hopping up and down in excitement. "Where should we eat?"

You looked between the two, giving them a slightly shy smile. "Oh, I dunno..."

"How about Mount Ebott?" Snowball interjected, looking between the both of you with a large, buck-toothed smile. "I go there all the time, how about you two?"

Both of you looked to her, then one another, then back to her as you shook your heads. "I thought so. Come on!"

She took off running, which made both of you jump up in surprised, taking off after her.

The mountain wasn't particularly far from the school, and you'd probably be a bit late for your next class, but it didn't mean much to you. For as much an impact as you made on it, history wasn't really your thing.

"Here we are!" Snowball called, both you and M.K. skidding to a halt as you looked at it. It hadn't changed much since the Barrier was shattered, other than a few new trees just barely getting their start into adulthood, and a few slightly thicker flowerbeds that wouldn't be around much longer thanks to winter being on its way.

"Whoa." M.K. said, looking it over, their eyes slightly wide and mouth open. "I never took in its beauty, and, y'know, and stuff."

"You're so poetic." Snowball giggled, giving him a playful shove. She let out a gasp as they fell forward, but rather than kissing the dirt they pulled a new trick, leaning into their momentum to roll forward, back to their feet. "Holy smokes!"

"Didn't see that one coming, did you?" M.K. laughed, suddenly running after her. "My turn!"

"Eek! No!" she squealed, turning to run away from them. "Frisk, help!"

You grinned, and Chara groaned as you sped after both of them. The three (four?) of you spent most of the lunch hour playing ("No, definitely just you three played."), until finally it came to a screeching halt, almost literally, as Snowball stopped in her tracks while you and M.K. were rolling around on the ground, roughhousing.

"Guys, lunch is almost done!"

"So what?" M.K. called, grunting as you pushed them back, lightly tackling them to the dirt. "I don't mind being late, I'm having fun!"

"Well I do! My mom's gonna kill me!"

Both of you stopped, turning to face her before standing up, M.K. having to twist themselves after rejecting your helping hand. "Alright, alright, we'll get going then, fine."

Snowball gave them an appreciative smile. "Thanks, M.K."

"Don't mention it." they said, grinning lightly. "Yo, Frisk, you coming?"

You turned to the mountain, licking your lips. "You guys go ahead, I'll be right behind you."

They said something you couldn't make out, mostly because another voice in your head was already speaking over it. "Frisk, don't."

"You know I want to just look."

"I also know you're an impulsive idiot, for as patient as everyone makes you look."

"Chara..."

"I don't care. That mountain is nothing but trouble. Besides, what are you gonna do, just stroll in there? Go up and come smashing down through the hole? What is the plan?"

"...I want to check up on him."

"Absolutely not."

"It's been years since we've seen him, Chara!"

"I know, but you also know he doesn't care."

"Chara, I'm sure he cares more than you think."

"Well, I think I know my adoptive brother better than you do." they sneered, sounding almost hurt with their follow up. "Unless he didn't mean that whole 'you're the friend I wish I had' crap."

"..."

"..."

You sighed, turning around, finally admitting defeat. You really didn't have much plan beyond just walking inside anyway, so...

"You can go later."

"Huh?"

"Don't make me repeat myself, you idiot." Chara grumbled. "I said you can just go later, if you're that desperate to see that fool."

"Really?"

"It's your body, isn't it? I don't have any control."

You figured they were upset, and it was obvious from the tone they took with that last remark. "You're only doing this because you want to see him too, aren't you?"

"You're pretty far convinced I wouldn't do a damn thing for you in favour of doing something selfish for myself, aren't you?"

"And I wasn't wrong to do that, was I?"

Chara let out a hollow laugh. "Of course not. I'm the bad guy, remember?"

You nodded, sticking your hands in your pockets, letting out a deep sigh. "Yeah. I remember."

"Now get your ass to school and think about what you're going to do once you see him." they said, once again managing to physically shove you forward. "We're done here."

You grabbed your lunch bag, looking up at the clouds as you walked towards the school. "There's no way we'd be friends in a day, right?"

"Of course not. That's a stupid idea, and we're both stupid for believing in it." Chara said. "I mean, you're stupid for believing in it."

"...Well, what if we gave it more than a day?"

"You're too naive." they said quickly, as if trying to silence you. "Now shut up and keep walking."

"I didn't hear a no."

"You did hear a 'shut up and keep walking', so shut up and just keep walking, dammit."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah so I probably went OOC for everyone except Frisk and Chara (and that's only really because their canon personalities are vague at best), but give it time and I'll get it right.
> 
> I'm sure of it, at least.
> 
> I hope.
> 
> (Also I don't have a beta-reader, and to me beta-reading means scanning over it with my eyeballs and then sticking it into a shaky, barely functional online spellchecker, so either ignore the spelling errors or yell at me about them.)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chara and Frisk have a fight for the second night in a row, and feelings get hurt for the second night in a row.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's about at this chapter I abandoned the idea of Frisk as any sort of pure, straight-laced hero. They're still good, but they definitely say some mean shit.
> 
> Whether or not they're justified, that's up to you.

You watched Frisk from beneath the trees, fading and reappearing within the shadows beneath the leaves as your partner ran up the street with their friends. The rabbit wasn't much of your concern, but that imbecile of a lizard got on your nerves. Even back in the Underground, there was just something about them that didn't mix well with you. 

Perhaps it was their rather... basic, you'd say, speech patterns, that got your goat. Regardless of what it was, you couldn't help but give them a dark glare, even if they (and anyone else not named Frisk) couldn't see you.

Once again, they continued up ahead, forcing you to retreat back into Frisk's SOUL until another dark patch became visible. While you could technically see in any direction when attached to Frisk's SOUL, the second you took on a form of your own your vision became regulated to seeing right in front of you. Kinda like when you weren't dead.

Besides, you liked watching Frisk run here and there. They could be surprisingly energetic for someone who had been through what they had, even if most of the time they were slow-paced and relaxed. 

And maybe, though you wouldn't admit it to anyone (and it took you years to admit to yourself), just maybe, you might be projecting yourself onto them a bit.

Who would've guessed, being unable to move for years upon years made you desperate for even the sensation alone of existence, which was sadly more feasible than simply existing proper in your current state.

M.K. kicked off his longboard, landing on the ground, barely able to stop himself from eating the concrete. "Woo!" he cheered, as Snowball rolled up beside him while Frisk jogged off, huffing and puffing. "That was wild! Yo, Frisk, you alright?"

"J-Just... hoo, just a bit t-tired." they said, nodding as sweat ran down their red face.

"You should invest in a longboard." Snowball told them, stepping off her own.

"I should also not have insomnia." Frisk grunted, forcing themselves to stand up straight.

The three remained in place for a few more seconds, until Frisk finally regained their breath. Once they gave a thumbs up, M.K. grinned, ready to step on his board. "Ready?"

Before Frisk could reply, you grunted, which made them visibly jump in front of their companions. "It's late."

"So?" they told you, giving their friends a forced grin as they tried to have a conversation in their head while still looking like a normal human being.

"Mother will be mad."

"Oh yeah." they said, walking forward as their friends prepared to take off, leading them on an even longer waste of time, one that, as much as you enjoyed living through, would've been better had that M.K. not been there. 

Also, M.K. wasn't your friend. You had a friend. A best friend. One you were hoping to see very, very soon.

Tomorrow, if it was up to you.

"Frisk, I'm serious."

"Serious about what? I appreciate the concern but-"

"Asriel."

"..." 

Frisk stopped in their tracks, looking down at the street as they let out a sigh, a very verbal one that their companions heard. "You're a real piece of work, you know that?" they told you.

"You were the one who wanted to see him."

"And you don't?"

"I do. That's why it's best you're not home late." you said. "You know how strict Mother can be, and I'm certain she'll be frustrated at you for waking her up thanks to your crying, your lying to her, unless of course you've come up with an excuse for why you were crying to begin with, and now staying out late, ignoring her messages."

"...Don't give me that tone." they sneered, suddenly turning around to face your silhouette underneath the orange leaves.

"What tone?"

Their friends watched in confusion as Frisk physically tensed, and though said friends couldn't, you were able to see them bare their teeth. "That tone you give when you act all pissy, where you try to sound like some sort of intellectual. Stop trying to look smarter than me."

"Ugh." you groaned. "Alright, fine, you got me Frisk, I'm a stupid idiot who does your math work for you and taught you half the words you know, there. Happy?" 

M.K. stepped closer, looking between Snowball and Frisk before they spoke. "Yo, Frisk! Are you, uh, are you all good?"

Frisk gave you the absolute meanest glare they could muster, reaching up to grab at their scalp in anger. "This isn't over." they mouthed to you, and as they turned, you saw their face go from angry to almost in pain.

"Ugh."

"Frisk?" Snowball asked, quickly hopping over. "Are you alright?"

You watched in idle confusion, followed by amusement, as Frisk nodded, shaking their head afterwards, as if trying to clear their thoughts. "Y-Yeah. Just a headache is all. Must've stayed up too late again."

"Must've not gone to bed at all, more like." M.K. snorted. "Maybe you should go home, dude. Get some rest and stuff."

Snowball nodded, placing her hands on her hips, giving Frisk a slightly stern look. "I think that's probably for the best."

"I already got one super strict mom, I don't need another." Frisk murmured, readjusting their backpack. "But you guys are probably right."

"No worries dude, it's only Monday. We can chill tomorrow."

Both of them waited for Frisk to nod, probably so they didn't look incredibly rude just turning and leaving them there. Once they did so, they both gave their parting words, and just like that, they went off on their longboards, leaving you and Frisk alone.

Oh boy.

They turned to look at you, face screwed up in anger as they began walking towards your silhouette. "I-"

"As much as you'd like to blame me for ruining your play date; you weren't gonna sleep last night anyway, you lied to Mom, and you were going to stay out late anyway if I didn't stop you." you told them quickly, watching their face grow even redder.

"Can you not interrupt me, please?" they huffed, looking around to make sure no one saw what would've been them talking to a tree before they continued. "You do realize that I wouldn't have to lie to Mom if you didn't bother me again, right?"

"I have spent the past several years literally stuck in your head, and yes, I get it Frisk, you're unhappy about it too, but at least you have a body to stretch and parade around, and, I don't know, use to communicate with people. I have you, and you don't even like me."

"Take three guesses why." they hissed. "Seriously, you've done a lot of evil shit."

"I told you, it was necessary."

"No it wasn't."

"Goddammit." you growled, beginning to feel frustrated on your end. "You said yourself this morning we weren't going to talk about this."

"Then stop getting in my way. Maybe if you did I wouldn't remember all the other crap you've done."

You rolled your eyes. "Because you're such a shining beacon of humanity." 

"At least I didn't-" they ball their fists, eyes bulging out of their skull as they practically force themselves to swallow whatever it was they were going to say.

Except you can hear their thoughts. Constantly. So you peeked inside, coming across the words of 'kill' and 'brother' before they blocked you out, the only thing you could hear being a rapid fire 'shitshitshitshit'. 

"Kill... brother?" you asked them, your voice trembling as your face twisted into one of shock as Frisk stared at you, their mouth slightly agape. "Did... d-did y-you...?"

Before your frustration erupt like the time bomb it had become in the past forty-eight hours, Frisk's phone let out a chiming noise. They quickly took the excuse and checked it. Even if you could technically hear the words, since they didn't bother blocking it out (probably an effort to distract you from processing what they were about to say), it was mostly a static buzz to you. 

There was a long silence once they finished, as the two of you stood there. Frisk stared blankly at their phone while you stared directly ahead, eyes focused more on looking through them than at them.

"Mom wants us home." they mumbled. Very, very slowly, they looked up at you, forcing their face to look indifferent.

You didn't say anything. In fact, your only reaction at all was to shift your eyes at them, focusing on their own. "I... I can't believe you."

Frisk stuffed their phone in their pocket, turning away as they sighed. "Look, Chara, if-"

"If I didn't want you to call me out on my terrible choices, I shouldn't have made terrible choices, right? Right?" you asked, feeling your anger begin to spiral out of control.

Your shadow dissipated as you took on your transparent form, something you hadn't done in a while, moving directly in front of them. "Right?!"

You stared at them, their face caught between indifference with a slight hint of fear, probably more at your reaction than your actions, since you couldn't really attack them. 

"..." was the only reply they gave.

"You really hate me, don't you?" you asked, feeling yourself giggle a bit. "You really do not like me."

"Chara, from my perspective, all you've done is lie and manipulate me. Hell, you would've tried it today if you had the chance."

"I was not-!"

"You're constantly guilting me for being mad at all the bad shit you've done that's affected me, and when you're not doing that, you're manipulating me by pretending to be my friend and do things for me." Frisk says quietly. They don't even sound angry anymore. "I don't even think we'd be friends if we weren't stuck together."

"Friends? We're friends?" you laugh, stepping back from them. "This is what you call a friendship?!"

"Do you want my honest answer?"

"No." you growl, hanging your head. You glowered at them from beneath your bangs, face curled into a snarl. "You've made it perfectly clear you don't want my friendship."

Frisk sighs, looking away. "How about you offer up a friendship that isn't built on lies and tricks, for once?"

"How about you go fu-" you jerked your arm up to point at them, stopping halfway through. You prepared that remark before Frisk even said anything, and you only processed their words as you yourself spoke, and they made you pause.

Frisk stared blankly as you lowered your arm, body relaxing as you let out a sigh.

"Exactly what I thought."

There was a very noticeable silence between both of you, the only noise being the autumn breeze rustling the leaves of the nearby tree. Frisk stood there, hands in their sweater pockets, looking at you but never quite making direct eye contact.

"I think we're done." you finally said, taking a few steps away from them as your form began fading.

"Yeah, we've been done since-"

"Get off your fucking moral high horse." you snarled. "Just go home and get your hug and kiss from my mother."

They opened their mouth, wanting to give you a strong rebuttal, but the second you were no longer visible they finally relented, clearly feeling the pride of victory. You wanted to believe they felt guilt, but honestly, at this point, you were certain it was just wishful thinking. And that wasn't worth it anymore.

Really, besides the part where they reminded you of what you did to Asriel, the thing that infuriated you the most was how they weren't wrong at your deceit of them and their friendly ways. Everything else, the massacre in the Underground, Asriel's death, you firmly believed, you knew, in your heart you were doing the right thing. You only wanted to help people with those choices.

But ever since you latched onto Frisk, with a very brief exception, the whole ordeal was centered around tricking them for an end result. Every attempt at friendship was done for one purpose or another, almost always a selfish one that you figured would eventually come to benefit you, and, at best, wouldn't leave Frisk any worse for wear. 

And you hated that. You hated it so much. 

Because as hard as it was to believe, you really did want to at least try being their friend. You just wanted a friend.

You just wanted to be around someone who wasn't constantly thinking of how much of a burden you were to them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chara's character is confusing. I hardly write any fanfiction, but every time I do, their personality is different. Which is odd, considering I have it set in stone in my mind. 
> 
> This iteration is not that one, and pretty much acts as a combination of how I view them (not quite as nice as Frisk, but ultimately a good, loving hero) and another version of them I wrote (a mean-spirited, borderline sociopath who had only the vaguest implications they cared for Frisk), which leads to this one: they're guilty about doing stupid stuff, but can't stop doing stupid stuff.
> 
> Don't quite give up on them yet though. I know we're only three chapters in and they've been established both by past and current events to be someone that refuses to change despite how often they hurt others and themself, but I'm not about to have one of the two most recurring characters be unlikable if I can help it.

**Author's Note:**

> Believe it or not when you crank something out in fifteen minutes based on an idea you randomly had, it's not good.
> 
> Feel free to leave feedback tho that's always nice.


End file.
